


What's in a Name

by ithilien22



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-06
Updated: 2011-06-06
Packaged: 2017-10-22 16:12:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/239958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ithilien22/pseuds/ithilien22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine's last name isn't actually Warbler, but it might've been easier if it was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a Name

His friends think it's just another one of the nauseating couple-y things they do - some sort of inside joke between the two of them. A few - Britt and Puck, for example - may even think that _Warbler_ is Blaine's actual name. Kurt lets them believe what they will and just hopes that no one actually picks up on the fact that he's never mentioned Blaine's true last name to any of them.

Because being an Anderson? It _means_ something in their part of Ohio, and it's not exactly synonymous with "upstanding citizen."

Of course, he didn't know the significance at first, so it's possible some of his friends won't make the connection either - especially when faced with Blaine's easy smiles and dorky showmanship. But someone is bound to put the pieces together eventually. So Kurt is always careful. _Always_.

Except for today, apparently, because he doesn't even notice Santana hovering over his shoulder in the late afternoon sun of the city park until she says, quite loudly, " _Anderson_ -Hummel? Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it does."

Kurt snaps his notebook shut, hiding the offending doodles on reflex, even though he knows it's already too late. He turns to face Santana with an uncomfortable pit that feels like resignation growing in his stomach.

When Kurt doesn't say anything, Santana arches an eyebrow and asks point-blank, "Your boy's an Anderson?"

"It's a common name," Kurt deflects weakly. _At least it's Santana_ , he thinks, feeling thankful for that small favor. He can't even imagine trying to have this conversation with Mercedes or Finn or - God forbid - his dad.

Santana just huffs out a derisive laugh, calling his bluff.

"I never took you for the mob wife type, Hummel," she says.

"He can't help who his parents are," Kurt responds immediately, defensive. "He's not like the rest of his family."

Santana gives him a hard look.

"So what happened with Karofsky," she counters, and Kurt can't help his involuntary flinch at the name, "that was just a coincidence?"

He hates her for finding the obvious flaw in his argument so quickly and easily. It just makes it that much harder to pretend he believes what he's saying.

"I don't know anything about that," Kurt tells her. That part, at least, is mostly true, but only because Blaine refuses to tell him the details.

"They're going to try him as an adult," Santana pushes, her tone slightly too accusatory to be truly conversational. "Five to ten years for possession with intent to sell. I know he was a dick, but you really think he deserves _that_?"

The truth is, Kurt has already asked himself the same question a hundred times (the bigger truth is that Kurt thinks planting drugs was probably the least harmful solution Blaine had thought of, and that Karofsky was probably lucky to still be breathing), but hearing it out loud - and from Santana, of all people - makes him irrationally angry.

"Like you're some pillar of virtue and morality," he snaps, lashing out in order to avoid the question.

But she just smiles, knowingly, and it makes Kurt feel that much angrier (and somehow, terribly small).

"Let me guess," she says, voice dripping with condescension, "you think you're going to save him, right? You think you can live with all the blood on his hands because you tell yourself that he doesn't have a choice and because one day your going to give him one - take him away from his evil family and set him free." Her eyes have grown softer towards the end of her speech and she looks at him almost kindly when she says, "That's not the way it works, Kurt. You can't save him."

A sob wracks Kurt's body before he even realizes he's started to cry.

"I love him," he says, a little desperately, because he doesn't know what else to say.

Santana sighs, finally moving to sit down next to him on the bench.

"And maybe that will be enough," she says, after a moment. "But only if you're honest with yourself about who he is, Kurt. This isn't some exciting game that you can play for a thrill and then come home to your nice, safe life."

Kurt takes a couple of deep breaths and tries to reign in his tears. He doesn't think about the truth of her words or how many sleepless nights he's already spent wondering what Blaine was doing and if he was safe. He doesn't think about what it would be like to carry that fear with him for the rest of his life. Instead, he thinks about what this conversation must be doing to his complexion and mentally runs through the skin care regimen that he'll have to do as soon as he gets home. It calms him slightly. He feels a little bit more centered.

"I appreciate the concern," he says with as much bitchiness as he can muster, pleased with how even his voice sounds, "especially considering this is the first time you've seemed to give a damn about my life at all."

Santana raises an affronted eyebrow and looks poised to respond, so Kurt raises a hand to cut her off.

"But frankly, my relationship with Blaine is none of your business. I know _exactly_ who he is and I've made my choice."

"There's a fine line between courage and being a dumbass," she says, almost too soft to hear. But she's already started to close off like usual and Kurt knows this is the last time they'll have this conversation.

"I would also appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this," he says anyway, just to be sure.

Santana just lets out her usual derisive laugh, dismissing him. She's already standing.

"What am I gonna do - go to Ms. P and have her give you some pamphlet called _'So You're Dating a Mobster: Tips and Tricks to Not Getting Yourself Killed'_? Fuck that. If you want to fuck up your life, that's your own problem, not mine."

She's stalking off before Kurt can come up with any clever retort, but maybe that's for the best.

He sits on the park bench for a long time after she leaves, lost in his own thoughts and fears. But his eyes are dry now, and after awhile he picks his notebook back up and carefully darkens the lines of the letters he'd scribbled earlier.

  
_  
**Blaine and Kurt Anderson-Hummel**   
_   


He adds a heart around the words and smiles softly to himself.


End file.
